Into the Wosk Collection: Discovery and Wonder
Audain Art Museum, Whistler, BC - To April 27
Scholar, author, educator, rabbi, businessperson, peace activist, art collector and philanthropist Yosef Wosk has played a recurring role in the shaping of modern-day Vancouver. Born in the city in 1949, he is the son of Morris Wosk, who, with his brother Ben, emigrated from Ukraine with their parents in 1928 and went to work as street peddlers. Within 20 years the Wosk brothers had built a diverse retail and real estate empire. While Yosef came up in the family business, diversification for him included spiritual, intellectual, aesthetic and humanist pursuits.
Wosk’s long-standing interest in books, manuscripts, photographs, prints, paintings, sculptures, furniture and various cultural objects has resulted in a remarkable collection that is both vast and coherent. Curators Adad Hannah and the Audain’s Kiriko Watanabe worked with collection advisor and art historian Spencer W. Stuart to produce an exhibition focused largely on photographs (portraiture and still life) and etchings, from heavyweights like Pablo Picasso, Francisco Goya and Rembrandt van Rijn.
In addition to works by Naomi Savage, Diane Arbus, Walker Evans, Robert Frank and Anne Brigman, exhibition highlights include Henri Cartier- Bresson’s photograph of Henri Matisse with doves; Diego Rivera’s photograph of Frida Kahlo and Emmy Lou Packard; Alexander Liberman’s image of Marcel Duchamp’s hands playing chess; and Man Ray’s close portrait of Ernest Hemingway. Landscapes include Berenice Abbott’s New York at Night (1931/1975) and Ansel Adams’ Moon
and Half Dome (1960) as well as some moody Fred Herzog black-and-whites and several pochoir prints from a well-preserved edition of Matisse’s post-war Jazz suite.
This exhibition is part of the 2026 Capture Photography Festival Selected Exhibition Program.
Special curatorial tour with Capture Photography Festival April 4, 1–2pm.
